Nicola Fossaceca

His hair is rather bristly and precociously going grey, his face is that of a good guy. Shy by nature, he’s the classmate we all dreamed of having: great sensitivity, never invasive, generous and with a square sense of humour that sometimes catches you unprepared. The story of Nicola Fossaceca is well-known but it’s worth repeating a few facts: born in 1983 in Trivento, in the inland of Molise, he first attended catering school in Termoli, then with his brother Antonio he decided to create a space in the pastry shop their mother Antonietta and father Domenico had opened in the Seventies, close to the sea in San Salvo Marina.

So in 2002 Al Metrò became a restaurant too. Enchanted by Niko Romito, who later became his mentor, Fossaceca fine tuned his talent in the kitchens of some of the most important chefs on the Adriatic coast, such as Mauro Uliassi and Moreno Cedroni, but also beside one of the most authentic and historic female chefs in Molise, his homeland, “mamma” Maria Lombardi of Antica Trattoria da Tonino in Campobasso, which recently closed down. When Nicola starts to reinterpret in his personal way some classics from local seafood cuisine, somebody turns up his nose but you can tell the flair, the skilled hand, the constant research of those contrasts that can be found in and outside of him, the result of a creativity that is never self-centred, which Michelin awarded with a star in the 2013 guide.

Without paying attention to the – many – people who spasmodically await his new creations, Nicola Fossaceca takes a step at a time, perhaps two, savouring new ideas. Even the restaurant’s renovations came after a while, and now it better suits the needs of kitchen and dining room (run by Antonio) in terms of space and functionality, but always in the simple and essential style that characterises them. A proof of this is given by Nicola’s work with poor fish and recipes such as red mullet in scapece (or better skapece, so as to remark its contemporary interpretation), roasted mackerel, bouillabaisse, dishes in which he often mixes sea and earth, as if he wanted to recuperate his origins and childhood flavours with a strong use of vegetables and complex cured meats such as ventricina or with ricotta which he smokes to use it as a ravioli filling.